geordiesteve710

It's partly a reaction to Sunday (which is a little knee jerk in my own opinion) but it's also a fair point that the atmosphere at SJP is very hit and miss unless we're in the shit. Fwiw it's never going back to what it was when the terraces were up, habits are longstanding now and the demographic is different as well. But safe standing "singing/shouting/jumping about like a daft cunt" areas would be a good start. I'd personally start with small "trial" areas behind each goal then look to expand once others see how much more fun it looks. Go too big too early and you're still going to get too many who are there to experience rather than create the atmosphere which will defeat the purpose. I don't mean to sound grumpy or dishearten anyone but I remember articles in the mag about this as far ago as Keegan first spell. There is, and has been for a long time, a lot of our support who won't go out of its way to make noise unless the situation demands it. And tbh it's the same across the country. Best of luck to anyone that tries to take it on and they'll have my (full throated) support.

Got sang at a game recently (Southampton away leg perhap s) and I got as far as that word before stopping abruptly thinking "shit, did I used to sing that??" Sign of the times I suppose

Ugh. That just sounds grim.

I dunno like. Every club has dickheads amongst their support to some degree, right down the leagues. But Man Utd and Chelsea really seem to attract more than their fair share of daft cunts that turn up for bother in a way that Arsenal, for example, don't.

FFS. That's very disappointing. Bet he was also unironically cheering on ASM, Isak, Joelinton etc.

I was pleasantly surprised by how well our fans behaved given what I see most away games. Worst I've heard of seems to be the daft arguments about sitting vs standing.

The way I've always looked at it from the outside is they've gone in and they've just taken and further enriched themselves without putting anything back in or adding any value (as a Thatcherite would put it) to the club. I understand why fans would look at that and see their club being used and abused and also, with the emotional pull our clubs have on us it's going to get the fan base angry. And if anyone should understand, it's us.

Well I wasn't aware of that bit. Aye, probably a bit much that like.

It's factually correct though, we're all gonna die one day

I don't wish owners like the Glazers on any club and if I did it wouldn't be out of spite but more self-interest. Man Utd with billionaire owners would make the bundesliga look competitive which would be (in the words of the OP) terrible for football as well.

For the vast majority yes, but there's also enough that run up to you, getting in your faces, arms outstretched. It's the same every year at Old Trafford and always when it's safety in numbers. One of your fans we were speaking to summed it up "there's cretins in every fan base and they're the ones in ours."

They're a horrible bunch of parasites make no mistake. Not sure in this instance it's necessarily terrible for football as with the amounts of money involved these days a well ran man Utd without owners extracting dividends and backed by a properly enforced ffp regime could be uncatchable.

It went both ways on the tube I was on on the way back to london tbf. Gave back as good as we got and it ended up with smiles and handshakes. That was a couple hours after the game as we went to the boxpark to try and avoid them, so it's a fair shout that these particular fans had at least stayed, celebrated and soaked up the cup win. Couldn't believe the amount that were leaving even before the cup lift. Some walking off in silence, some more interested in getting in our faces singing about a striker they didn't sign 27 years ago. Either way I just cannot fathom that mentality. Thought by their own (admittedly high) standards they were pretty quiet during the match itself, but I'm not convinced either that the acoustics at this new Wembley are that helpful. Old Wembley seemed louder in general and both sets of fans louder in 1996 in particular but that said I'm older, grumpier and slightly harder of hearing now.

I love it. It's a backhanded compliment and shows he's taking us seriously (unfortunately.) We're not here to be popular. It'll make very little difference in the grand scheme of things- if they need a lot of injury time they'll get it regardless and we'll all be told it was justified regardless of whether it is or isn't. What Heisenberg says now will have very little impact on it.

Well we aren't, no.

I'd love this to be right, but the idea that Manchester United will start slowly in a Wembley final just seems ridiculous

With their schedule and the fact they've won every trophy going multiple, multiple times in my lifetime then it makes perfect sense for them not to have a parade. Entirely different kettle of fish for us. As for not a real trophy clearly that's bollocks, it is a major trophy. But it's not as special as the FA Cup and nobody will ever, ever convince me otherwise.

Think it's the small cans of Budvar they serve unless they've changed it the last few months. Decent lager tbf, just like I did they're tight as fuck with it.

Think it's seven days a week now starting at noon. But they have got worse and worse at distributing it. Tighter than a Scottish nun now. I reckon from Newcastle to London you'd be lucky to see the drinks trolley three times and strictly 1 drink per person per time.

How do you think you will line up? Will it be Weghorst up front, Rashford and Antony on the wings with Fernendes at no 10 or does Rashford play cf now? Please excuse the ignorance in the question, I don't get the time or opportunity to watch a lot of football that isn't nufc these days.

Cittie of York pub in Holborn is canny for a Sam Smiths. Was planning on maybe nipping in on Saturday if it's still there.

Remember a couple of years ago in the Championship when a ref- Drysdale it might have been- lost his rag with a player and looked like he was going to chin him. Think he swore as well, something like a "what did you just fucking say to me?" The player absolutely shit himself and backed down, football media went mental and the ref got (and happily accepted) a one-game ban for what is probably milder than most players do to refs every week. Not saying the refs reaction was right, but it was interesting to see the outrage. Some people seem to think refs are just there to take abuse off everyone and accept it.

I'm definitely in the pessimistic camp at the moment. I can see a similarity with 98/99 in that in both of those years form also dropped off between winning the semi and going to the final whereas our opponents just carried on as normal and had the momentum behind them. It's not as easy as flicking a switch to turn it back on on the day. On the other hand there is the mitigation that we've been missing Bruno and he will be back. It is also clear that Man Utd will be looking to take the initiative and push on rather than adopting the cautious mentality we've been up against. This means rather than having to break down a compact defence we will get opportunities to counter like we did for example to great effect at Anfield. All in all I'm looking forward to the day and the weekend, having a good drink in London with my mates and bumping into a few familiar faces I'm sure. In Wembley I'm going to take ot all in, sing/shout my voice box out and hope we win that battle as comprehensively as 2005. As for the game I'm expecting to get beat 3 or 4 nil so that whatever happens I don't end up too downhearted.

Fun fact, at least two sunderland fans from my school were involved in smashing up that phone box and visible on the front of the Ronnie. Always have a little chuckle to myself when I hear a mackem say "you would never catch us doing things like that."